Tonic
by Ziggurat Rolsovitch
Summary: Walking through the crowd Katara accidentally spills 'love potion' on a certain somebody, but what will she do with this love stuck firebender now? And worse... what will the Gang say about it! Read and find out!


Disclaimer; don't own the show, but I'm sure you already know that.

A/N this was a funny idea I had and when I thought about it, I was like… you know what. This could have actually happened and if it did it would have been really, really, really funny.

Proverbs 25:2. " 'God's glory to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings to search out a matter.' "

XxXxX

The gang sat staring at the vile with bubbling purple liquid. They all blinked at it a few times before one of the bubbles popped and snapped them from their stupor.

"Okay, we have to think about what we're going to do with this," Aang said.

"We could use some to get you a girlfriend, Twinkle Toes," Toph laughed.

"This is serious, Toph," Katara said then. "This potion is dangerous."

Everyone knew that Katara was talking about the evil Lord they had taken the potion from. Lord Hue was using the so called 'love potion' to get woman to do whatever he wanted them to.

He had even gone as far as using Suki and the rest of the warriors in his evil plan. He used them as spies to try and kill a Water Tribe master.

This had forced them to arrest Lord Hue and take the potion from him. Now they had to figure what to do with what was left of the tonic.

"Maybe we could use it on some fire troopers and-"

"No, Sokka," Katara quickly said to her brother. "We need to get rid of what's left. We'll dump it into the sewers on the outskirts of town."

"Good idea, Katara," Aang said. "We'll meet up at the apartment later."

Everyone agreed and they parted ways with Katara and went back to the house. She held the bottle close to her chest to prevent spills. She had only looked down for a second at the bottle when she bumped into someone and fell backwards, losing the bottle at the same time.

She gasped and pressed a hand over her mouth as she saw the firebender wiping quickly at the purple liquid that got into his eyes. She swallowed hard as she saw the Fire Prince.  
Oh, crap!

"Ah! Watch where you're going-" He cut his words off as he looked down at the waterbender in front of him. "You. Waterbender." He had frozen and squinted through the purple goo in his eyes at her.

She got up and ran, barely avoiding the flame shot at her. She ducked around a corner and found herself in an alley, facing a wall. Turning she found the angry firebender behind her.

He growled as he took fire and shot it at her, but he found his fire died before it reached his target.

"What was that?" he asked in confusion and tried another, but it failed also. He tired again. Still nothing. He charged up to her and grabbed her by the collar. "What did you do to me?"

"I didn't do anything!" She yelled back.

"It was the purple stuff you spilled on me!" He wiped at his eyes again with the hand he didn't have a hold of her with. Then he used his sleeve. He groaned and gave up on trying to get the burning liquid out of his eyes and focused on the Waterbender responsible for his pain.

"Umm… are you… feeling alright?" She asked nervously.

"What? Why?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh… no reason… You can let me go now."

"What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?" He shook his head all of a sudden and blinked a few times as his vision fuzzed up. He set his hand on the wall to her right and she looked up at him quickly. "You are… very… beautiful."

She clapped a hand over her eyes. Oh, no. she thought. He had a why-the-hell-did-I-just-say-that? Look on his face then.

"What am I going to do with you now?"

"What?"

"This is bad. Very bad."

"Maybe I could help. If you would tell me what you did to me!"

"No! you just need to…. Uhh… oh, just follow me." She said with a sigh. The guys were going to kill her. This had to be the biggest slip up she had ever made.

"Why should I?" His shoulders slumped then and he felt like he was in the middle of a losing battle. "Um, alright."

"Wait… what?" She asked as she turned around to find him right behind her. "Did you just say alright?"

"Yes?" He questioned himself even. His head felt strange. Fuzzy even. "I-I uh…" He shook his head.

Okay, now she was starting to worry about him. Firebender or not. What was she going to do? And what would prolonged exposure do to him?

"Okay, Zuko… listen. I'm going to take you back with me, but you have to promise me something," She said slowly. "You have to promise you won't attack Aang."

She watched his eyes widen as he tried to fight it. His lips twitched even and he looked like his was going to explode into a ball of flames at those words.

"I…" He struggled. "promise."

XxXxX

Katara stopped outside the door to the apartment and swallowed hard. She was in so much trouble. And the fact of the fire prince right behind her didn't help. She cold feel the heat coming off him as if he were fire himself.

It didn't help the situation. She turned and found him right behind her again. She set her hands against his chest to push him back a bit.

"Remember. You promised," She said.

"I know," He replied, somewhat irritated.

"You're calm? Completely totally calm?" She asked. "You won't attack Aang?"

"I won't attack him."

"Calm?"

"I'm… calm."

"Okay." She opened the door to the apartment and found Sokka going over some battle plans with Aang and Toph. She knocked on the door frame and the rest turned to her.

"Hey, Katara. I didn't think you'd be back this soon," Aang said, but he sensed something wrong immediately. "What wrong?"

"Something's wrong?" Sokka asked suddenly.

"Umm… okay. I… have something to confess…. I… kinda…. Maybe… had an accident," Katara said slowly.

"What 'kind' of accident?" Her Brother asked.

"Oh… the… uh… kind of accidental spilling of the potion on somebody."

"Katara!" He scolded.

"Relax, Sokka. It was an accident," Aang said, Toph remained silent still.

"Well, who is the poor guy anyway?" Sokka finally asked, slightly amused at the guy who got love sick over his sister. Probable some little geek, he thought.

But the second the firebender stepped through the door everyone was on defense, Aang was in a fighting stance and Sokka had a hand on his weapon. Toph just stood there, accepting the whole situation easily.

"Uh, Katara… Zuko is standing right behind you!" Aang said.

"That's who you spilled it on?" Sokka asked in a yell.

"I don't know," Toph finally spoke out. "Maybe this is a good thing."

"Whatcha talking about?" Aang let his guard down and looked at her.

"I mean… maybe we could use him."

"Hey!" Sokka said. "That's a great idea! He has to do what ever she says anyway."

"We just can't use him," Katara said.

"Katara, why are you standing up for him? He's worth a lot of information." Her brother said in annoyance. "Look he has to do whatever you say. Why can't we just ask him?"

"I couldn't help you," Zuko finally spoke up. "I've… been banished. I know nothing of my Father's plans."

"See?" Katara asked. "When does this stuff wear off anyway?"

"Hmmm…." Sokka said as he rubbed his chin, calculating in his head. "About a week."

"Great," She said sarcastically. She didn't want Zuko here either.

"Okay… since he doesn't know anything let's just lock him up until the stuff wears off."

"I have to agree with, Sokka," Aang said. "He's dangerous."

"That's actually a good idea," Katara said finally.

"Does anybody care what I think?" Toph asked. "What I was saying is that he could help us fight them 'and' teach Aang firebending."

"In four days?" Aang asked.

"It's better then nothing."

XxXxX

Proverbs 25:5 " 'Remove wickedness from the King's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.' "

XxXxX

So that was exactly what they did. And Zuko really had no choice but to listen to the orders he received from Katara. His head was too confused to be able to do much more.

Slowly… things began to change. They had gone through a town that he been destroyed by the fire nation and hundreds left homeless, while hundreds had been murdered.  
Katara saw the sadness in Prince Zuko's eyes as he saw a boy who had lost his mother to the fire nation raiders.

They had taken a brake in a peacefully quiet forest area. Finally a brake from the running. Except the constant watched over Zuko to make sure he wouldn't attack him.

He wouldn't. not now. Not when he was thinking of that boy who cried over the loss of his Mother just as he had done when he himself was a boy. He never realized how this war was making thing terrible for people not of the fire nation.

"Zuko," Katara said softly, trying to get his occupied attention. He glanced up at her only briefly. "You can leave. The week is almost up."

He stayed silent for a few moments before he glanced at her again. He had been with them for nearly a week and in that short time, his mind began to un-fuzz. The potion had worn off yesterday, yet he had gone without attacking the avatar or running off in the night.

He had also neglected to tell them that, but he didn't want them to think he had gone soft. That would be worse for his reputation, but another thing… was that he found himself absolutely fascinated by the waterbender. In fact… he realized he thought about her quite often. Even before all this and then he also realized that… he was in 'love' with this girl.

"Could I… could I talk to you about something? It's… rather important."

"Okay," She said, unsure of what he was going to say. He turned slightly to the side to face her fully as she sat next to him besides the pound.

"I, uh… I… I just wanted to tell you… that," He sighed and not knowing what to say pressed his lips to hers. She didn't now what to do or what to say. she didn't pull back, but she didn't kiss him back. "I love you."

She got up and pushed him back.

"No, you don't. it's the potion talking. You think you do, but you don't!" The truth was that she had feelings toward him too, ever since he started helping Aang, but she couldn't do this and neither could he.

"It's not. Even before this I had feelings for you. I think about you everyday, I spend every waking hour thinking about you and wondering if theirs the slightest chance in hell that you think about me too!" He breathed in and spoke more softly. "And I pray to God that you feel the same way for me, because I don't want to be with anybody else."

"No, you, Zuko," She couldn't even look at him anymore.

"You can't tell me what I do and don't feel!" He yelled. She turned and walked away from him swiftly.

When she was gone he yelled in frustration and kicked flame across the small garden, grazing the top of the small pond and leaving a trail of steam as it hit the stone wall on the other side.

He felt like she'd had just ripped his heart out, put it in a paper bag and handed it back to him. Breathing heavy he dropped back into a sitting position, trying to keep as calm as he possible could.

…

Toph heard the display of Zuko freaking out and went to Katara, she found Katara in a similar mood, except for the tantrum of bending.

"Katara… what's going on?"

"Nothing, just Zuko and the potion thing."

"The potions worn off you realize that don't you?" Toph asked. "I can tell when he lying, you know that. And what I felt was total and complete honesty. And I think you like him too."

"He's a firebender Toph, I can't." Katara said.

"But, what if he's a good man, with a good heart?" Toph said. "You're denying him his change of heart. He's helped us even though the potion has worn off. You 'have' to give him some credit for that."

"I know he's changed and I know he wants to do what right now, but how do we know he won't betray us? How do we know this isn't all a trick?"

"Alright, believe what you want, but he has changed. ever since we went to the last village and he saw what his people did. He knows now and it's changed him."

"You sound like Aang now."

"Just try and give him a chance," With those last words Toph walked off. This was something that the two benders had to work out.

XxXxX

Katara, Toph and Sokka had gone to the market to get a few things, but when they got back they found that their small camp had been burned! Everything was burning and there were bits of fire nation armor scattered on the ground.

Katara dropped the bag of things she was carrying and yelled. "Aang!" She found Aang on the ground, but not the way she expected, he was sitting besides the fallen Zuko.

"What happened?" Sokka asked, panting as he caught up to her.

"We were attacked, and… I didn't see one coming. Zuko got in the way on purpose," Aang said.

"He's alive," Toph said. "I can hear his heart, but… faintly."

XxXxX

Zuko woke up, singed, but alive. The burn was uncomfortable, but it was nothing he hadn't felt before. Still… he had places to be. He had to return to his ship. Return to his uncle.

He told Aang and the boy had hugged him and wished him luck, Sokka had just shrugged and Toph had pounced him in the arm before he left.

now as he sat in his quarters he wondered what he would do now? He had helped Aang learn firebending and since Katara had completely rejected him so he left.  
He just couldn't stand being around her when she didn't love him back. It hurt too much.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh said as he walked into the room. "Someone is here to see you."

"Not now Uncle," Zuko said and sighed deeply.

"It's important."

Finally Zuko sighed and sat up to see who had decided to bother him. He froze in place when he saw the waterbender.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I… was thinking about what you said to me and I wanted to apologize. I guess I didn't really take your feelings into consideration."

"It's alright," He accepted quickly and stepped closer to her. "I really do love you, you know?"

"I realize that now, but… I also realize… that I love you, too," She said quietly and he took the last few steps needed and embraced her and kissed her passionately, like a dying man who needed water. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Katara." He just held her and enjoyed the feeling of being in love.

…

Outside the door Aang, Toph and Iroh snickered.

"Ah, I knew my nephew was off with a girl this week," Iroh spoke.

"You've got no idea," Toph said.

"Yeah," Aang agreed.

"I was getting tired of his sulkiness for awhile there. It was worse then usual," Iroh said.

"Hey, look on the bright side!" Aang exclaimed. "At least he'll finally be happy."

"And, good thing Sokka isn't here," Toph added.

The three spies agreed. Love was certainly a great thing. Now all the old tea drinker had to do was get these two younger love bird together and his job would be complete, but for now his Nephew happiness was enough. Love was enough.

XxXxX

The End

Thanks for reading, leave a review and God bless.


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